I'm working on a zombie survival activity.

Should I end up abandoning the project, I'll be posting all of the stuff I've made here (in case someone else would like to keep working on it).

Done so far are:

• Animated and interactive zombie actor, that can
  - survive headless for a moment while still able to attack
  - "survive" (fake) death by falling over unconscious for a few seconds for an element of surprise
  - rise up through the ground when spawning
  
• One-man survival activity with
  - difficulty setting affecting enemy strength
  - enemies spawning progressively more frequently and closer to the brain

To-do:

• Co-op compatibility
• Even better enemy AI
• Dynamic campaign/story-like scene with tasks
• Tech compatibility?
• Map compatibility?
• Weapon purchase system
• Armor purchase system (idea of implementation is done)

I'm aiming for an activity that's actually challenging and enjoyable.

With enemies progressively spawning closer to the brain, I'm not sure how well that would work out in CC. I've played a few horde games like Vermintide, L4D2, KF2, and Alien Swarm, and it feels kinda cheap when a horde suddenly spawns behind a closet or around a corner 10 feet from you with no warning. It's more interesting when you can actually hear enemies coming from a distance and respond accordingly (or panic when you realize you're poorly equipped to prepare).

I don't know how the experience would translate to CC with the slower movement speed that actors have, just my bit of input.

As of now it's just one of the ways to make the mockup activity gradually more challenging and ensure that the zombies eventually find their way to the brain, as they're not quite bright enough as of yet not to get stuck in the slightest fluctuations in the terrain. It can get obnoxious eventually, but it's not as bad as the games you mentioned since (as of now) the zombies spawn one at a time and you get plenty of time to see them rise up through the ground.

In non-wrapping maps the zombies only spawn on the edges.

How open are you to ideas?

Was thinking about a mechanic where the scene has several Noise Generator machines scattered about, and being near them vastly reduces the frequency and increases the distance of zombies spawning from you - hard to pin down your location, etc.

The machines themselves run on fuel, so you have to carry gas cans to them to keep them running, and obviously moving from one machine to another means you'd be walking through a "quiet" area and get attacked more frequently.

That would ofc be very doable, I'm not yet sure how that would translate to the overall gameplay. I do like the idea of some kind of "perk" that can slow the zombies down when things get unbearable or when you want to focus on another "task."

Custom music!

I can whip something up. Sometime. Do you wanna go for a classic horror-y zombie type thing with the whole idea or more of a nazi zombies let's blow heads up kinda thing?